Organized Religions Not True Faith

Hey folks,

I know that some of you LOVE your “Religion.” and try to follow what it says is the truth, and to try your best to follow what it says to do. I have no problem with you, or your RIGHT to practice your religion.

My problem, as I have discussed MANY times over the years, is when people tell me that I cannot eat meat. Not ever in some, and not on Friday in others. Tell me I cannot smoke. Tell me I cannot drink a glass of wine, or have a beer every now and again. When some people tell me I have to pray to an intercessor to get to God. Tell me I have to GO to a BUILDING once a week and I have to confess my Sins, or what they consider Sins, to a man for forgiveness.

I have a problem when someone tells me I have to go without this or that to “prove’ my faith, certain times a year. When someone tells me, that this all knowing, all loving, all caring God, is just sitting on the edge of his seat, waiting for me to Sin, so he can send me straight to Hell. To be tormented for all of eternity. I have a problem when someone tells me God told them to kill someone. I have a problem when I’m told that what the Bible use to say, no longer applies and NOW to be all inclusive, we have to change it around to fit today. BIG PROBLEM with that. None of this is in the Bible.

I have a problem with Idols, with Witchcraft, with Nature controlling man. I have a problem with lies, distortions, and man-made traditions. Yes folks, I have a problem with organized religion itself. To much man, not enough God.

I have discussed this issue over the years in various forms and every now and then, someone asks me, is this not being a hypocrite? How can I quote the Bible, and tell people that it says, all you have to do is ask for, and accept the gift of Salvation given by Jesus The Christ, and be saved, then say others are wrong? Am I not doing the same thing that other religions do, when they say their way is the only way and that we must follow them? The answer is NO. I’m not. Why? Because what I’m saying to you is straight from God. I am not adding to it, nor am I taking away from it. I am not changing it in anyway. I am not attempting to fit it into an agenda. I’m not asking you for money. {Smile} I have NOTHING to gain or lose if you decide to or not to do it. I am simply telling you what it says. I am pointing out the path. It is up to you to follow it.

Every now and then, we have stories that pop up in the news, that brings this type of discussion back to the forefront. Like this one from CSM - Spurred by Carter, some Baptists meet to build bigger tent By Jane LampmanWed Jan 30, 3:00 AM ET

Jimmy Carter has taught the gospel of Christ in Baptist Sunday Schools for 60 years – even while governor of Georgia and many times during his presidency. But in his travels, he has encountered a less flattering view of his religion.

“Not only young people in America, but in the many countries where Rosalynn and I have worked, when you mention Christianity, the first thought that comes to people's minds is dissension and divisiveness,” says former President Carter in an interview. “Not between Baptists and Methodists, but among Baptists, among Anglicans, among Methodists.”

To spark a new era of cooperation, he and other prominent Baptists have called a three-day meeting in Atlanta, which begins Wednesday. Some 20,000 people will gather to form a New Baptist Covenant and demonstrate that Baptists with theological differences can work together on the basis of Jesus' teachings. Organizers insist that they're not creating a new denomination or making a political statement (although some conservatives have said the aim is to boost Democrats in an election year). With blacks joining whites and Latinos, many Baptists see it as a historic moment.

Of course this IS ALL about politics, and winning the Presidency for the Democrats. But that is really not my issue here. The point is, God doesn’t change. He is the same yesterday, today, and will be the same tomorrow. The very fact that we have different denominations of the same “Religion” PROVES that they are WRONG.

“This is an opportunity to reenvision what it means to be Baptist, and especially to build bridges across racial and denominational divides in a way that has never been done before,” says David Gushee of Mercer University's school of theology. “It's really a vision of the Christian faith that is driving this.”

But the PROBLEM is, in the family of God, there is NO Black, White, Rich, Poor, or any other divisions. If you want to put a color on the Family of God, it would be red. The color of the blood Jesus shed for you and me.

Again, the very fact that we HAVE Black churches, White Churches, Rich Churches, Poor Churches, proves they are wrong.

With the theme of Unity in Christ, one aim is to forge local partnerships among Baptist groups based on Jesus' message on his ministry as found in Luke 4:18. Special workshops will deal with Christian obligations not only to spread the gospel, but also to promote peace with justice, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, care for the sick, and welcome the stranger.

18 The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind,to release the oppressed,”

Jesus was saying that THIS Spirit was upon HIM. Now I understand that this same spirit comes into us as well, and these are things we should do. But nowhere does it say “but also to promote peace with justice”, or “shelter the homeless” , nor does it say ANYWHERE to “welcome the stranger.” These are man-made additions that are there to change the message to fit agendas. Jesus’s main concern was dealing with one’s soul. Everything else is secondary. There were wars in Jesus’s time. There were oppression by men. What Jesus was saying here was to free people from the prison of Sin, not go to the local jail and release those guilty of being there. You did not see Jesus protesting the Government. You did not see Jesus calling for world peace. He was talking about freeing individuals and teaching them faith in having a one on one relationship with God.

The four major black Baptist conventions are key players in the gathering, along with Latinos and whites. “This will be the first time in 160 years that black and white Baptists have met in a major meeting in harmony,” Carter says.

They should have always been together. Man is who messed it up.

Meeting bridges political divide Besides Democrats Carter and former President Clinton, who joined with Baptist leaders last year to announce this week's meeting, participants include Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Charles Grassley of Iowa, along with bestselling author John Grisham.

Speakers have been told to avoid politics altogether.

Yeah OK. Folks all this is a lame attempt to get some of the Religious vote in the General election for the Democrat side. Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Charles Grassley of Iowa are there to simply say that this is NOT political. But we all know it is.

Unity remains a tough challenge for Baptists, however. Leaders of the politically and theologically conservative Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), the largest US Protestant denomination, at 16 million members, are not participating, though pastors and members may do so.

“What those who are calling the meeting are clearly trying to do is to rebrand the Baptist identity in direct contrast to the SBC and other more conservative groups,” says R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, an SBC leader.

He says there are clear theological and moral issues that churches should deal with, and he questions whether they can do so without causing division.

“Whether they'll be able to come out of this with any substance and with a movement rather than just a meeting remains to be seen,” Dr. Mohler adds.

The movement they are trying to get moving it NOT for the core message of Salvation. But Political. They have no real desire to see unity. If so, they would have to denounce a lot of what they believe in. They would have to denounce what caused the division to begin with. They just will not do that.

Conservatives in power since '80sSince conservatives took over SBC leadership in the 1980s and insisted on conformity to a strict “biblical faithfulness,” numerous churches have split off from the denomination and created at least two other entities, which are both participating in this week's meeting. Some state conventions have divided as well.

In 2000, the SBC approved a new confessional statement that, among other points, disallowed women pastors and called on wives to be submissive to their husbands.

More twisted rhetoric to create more division. I’ll talk about how this happens in a second.

Carter, a longtime SBC leader, and his wife publicly renounced membership in the wake of that stance, a step he terms somewhat presumptuous since only congregations are members. He had tried for some time to reconcile conservatives and moderates, but to no avail.

Because what is right, is right, and what is wrong is wrong. It does not change with society. What was Sin, is Sin and will kill you quicker today at that.

“In this country saturated with religion, there's a great struggle over what it means to be religious and particularly to be Christian,” says Dr. Gushee, who teaches Christian ethics. “There's a clash in visions between what the SBC leadership says it means to be Baptist and what this large group of other Baptists is projecting it to mean.”

Man-made traditions. Nothing to do with God.

Another trend that helped spur the New Baptist Covenant is the “softening” of denominational identity.

The dynamic growth in nondenominational megachurches has wooed people away from both black and white congregations, says Bill Leonard, dean and professor of church history at Wake Forest University Divinity School in Winston-Salem, N.C.

The answer is CLEAR. The growth in nondenominational megachurches is for this very reason. I go to a nondenominational church, when time allows. They care about who you are, not WHAT you are. They care about where you are going, not where you are from. They talk about the things of the Spirit, they leave the things of the flesh at the door. They teach the truth of God, not the traditions of men. Politics? Vote for who you want. They do not care. Their view is simple, without Salvation and a one on one relationship with God, NOTHING else matters.

That concern, together with the disaffection of many young people, “has Baptists asking, 'What does it mean to use the B word?'” says Dr. Leonard. “How do we think together about that and pass on that identity ... to a new generation?”

They are asking how do we win them back? That concern? Why not try teaching them the truth LIKE the nondenominational churches are? Why is this a concern? Could it be that they are more concerned with, oh I don’t know, MONEY, than they are about teaching the truth? Just a thought.

Many students even in Baptist colleges find the Baptist label problematic because they associate it with hard-right politics and intolerance, Gushee says. “We need a Christ-centered vision ... that is full of love; that's about what we are for, not what we are against.”

“Kumbaya my lord, kumbaya
Kumbaya my lord, kumbaya
Kumbaya my lord, kumbaya
Oh lord, kumbaya”

Organizers of the New Baptist Covenant have made strong efforts to bring college and seminary students to this week's meeting, during which Leonard will teach a course on “A New Baptist Identity for the 21st Century,” giving the youths a voice in defining that future.

THERE IS NO NEED Just teach them the TRUTH. Cut out all the man-made junk, and teach the truth. The Truth NEVER changes. Man-made traditions DO. As a matter of fact.

22Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

23And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Romans 1

OK. It really is this simple. I start a Religion, as to not offend or pick on any one Religion, and put forth commandments. I set up rules and regulations. I say “This is the way you live.” I acquire a major following of Carlockians. Later on down the road, long after my death, someone in the Carlockian religion decides they do not like this or that. They start talking to others and convince them that this or that is just wrong. It does not fit the times so they leave the Carlockian Religion. However, they like most of it, so they become Petetites.

Then, years go by, most likely with these two groups battling it out, another group start looking at this whole thing and say, well, we like some of that, and we like some of this, but not really all of either, so we will not leave both and become Petcardians. ETC. So on, so forth it goes.

But if you really look into this whole mess, you will find that the “truth” of what I said back then, is STILL what I said. Man over the years have done nothing but complicate a simple message, changed it, and made it something that it was never intended to be.

FAITH in God, most times, has NOTHING to do with organized religion. As a Matter of fact, in some cases, organized religion has nothing to do with God. I just find that truly sad.
Peter

Source:
CSM - Spurred by Carter, some Baptists meet to build bigger tent